LAKERS: Jordan Farmar feels like he's home again in L.A.

Jordan Farmar smiled and held up a No. 1 Lakers jersey Friday, with cameras documenting the return he had long sought.

The Los Angeles native spent the past season playing for Anadolu Efes in Istanbul and got by on enough Turkish to go to the grocery store or ask for directions. He had signed a three-year, $10.5 million contract, but the lure of his hometown team outweighed finances.

"I've been watching the Lakers since the moment I left," said Farmer, who played on the Lakers' 2009 and 2010 title teams. "Stayed up every night while I was overseas to two, three, four in the morning watching games.

"Just feeling that that's where I belong. That's home for me. I've felt that for a while now."

General manager Mitch Kupchak credited Farmar's persistence as the main reason the Lakers managed to bring him back. The 26-year-old, an alumni of Taft High and UCLA, insisted he wouldn't have accepted the minimum veteran's contract anywhere else in the NBA.

Farmar's representative first called Kupchak roughly three weeks ago, but the general manager wasn't optimistic. He met with Farmar in person a week after the call and regarded it as a "re-acquaintance" -- one without any guaranteed reunion.

"In my experience with those kinds of agreements, dealing with those (foreign) clubs, it just seemed very unlikely that Jordan would want to pursue something like this because of the nature of the agreement," Kupchak said. "I'm not quite sure I've seen an agreement that paid so generously in recent times in Europe. ...

"He convinced me that it could happen."

The Lakers finally signed him to a contract a week ago but still needed to secure his release from Anadolu Efes, where Farmar had averaged more than 13 points. The buyout reportedly was estimated at $500,000.

His return adds depth to a point guard rotation that is headed by two-time MVP Steve Nash, 39, who averaged 6.7 assists in his Los Angeles debut -- his lowest mark since the 1999-2000 season. Injuries also limited Nash to 50 games last season and 62 the year before in Phoenix. He had played in at least 70 games in each of the 11 prior years.

Farmar, who could serve as an insurance policy for Nash, said he wants to contribute any way he can. Originally drafted 26th overall in 2006, he averaged 6.9 points and 2.1 assists in 301 games with the Lakers but yearned for freedom outside of Phil Jackson's triangle offense.

He received that opportunity for two seasons with the New Jersey Nets before going abroad, and said the experience of leading a team has prepared him to do anything coach Mike D'Antoni asks.

"I had to play a lot more pick-and-roll basketball," Farmar said. "Going overseas and having to carry a whole team, the success of the team depended on how I played every night. Just that experience, having that much responsibility on my shoulders, really developed different areas of my game.